1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a device for supplying sheets or originals to, for example, the copy board of a copying machine or the like, while manually or automatically orientating the sheets or originals in a specific direction and, more particularly, to a sheet supplying device of the type adapted to detect and receive the sheets or originals one by one.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Hitherto, such a sheet supplying device has been known in which the originals inserted into the original carrier is picked up one by one and manually delivered to the copy board. In this known device, the feed of the original is commenced upon detect of the originals received by the original receiver by means of a detector. In the conventional device, more specifically, the feed is commenced immediately after the detection of the original or the feed is commenced after lapse of a predetermined time from the detection. These two systems have advantages and disadvantages. Namely, in the former system, the feed of the original is commenced immediately after the insertion of the original to the supplying device so that the copying time is somewhat shortened. On the other hand, various problems such as feed of the original in the wrong posture and so forth are caused, particularly when the original is fed manually, because the feed is started directly after the detection. In the latter system, there is a sufficient time for correcting the orientation of the original, so that the above-mentioned problem is avoided even when the original is the first one and the exposure is made only once. However, the copying time is impractically long due to the time lag between the insertion of the originals and the commencement of the feed.
In the sheet supplying device of the kind described, it is essential that the original or the sheet is supplied to the exposure section at a specific orientation. To this end, in the conventional device, a rule or a paper feed guide, which provides a reference for the orientation of the originals, is mounted on the original receiver and, at the same time, a detector is disposed immediately upstream from a stopper member for retaining the leading end of the original. The feed of the original is commenced after the detection of the leading end of the original by the detector.
In these known device, the orientation of the original is determined manually, with a reference to the rule provided on the original feeder, so that the original is fed at a wrong orientation to cause a wrong orientation of the copy on the copying paper. The feed of the original in the wrong posture often causes a jamming of the original in the copying machine resulting, in the worst case, cutting of the original.